Jeff Gitchel fueling Mike Couts Fast Jet plane as Dave Rigotti waits to start it for a fast run.
By John Moll
We wrapped up Day 2 of speed flying four more events. Things went a lot faster today. The slowest plane went 127.8 mph and the fastest went 185.34 mph. That is really moving around the circle! Those flights were done by eight entrants. Each contestant’s plane is allowed four attempts to make three official flights. An attempt is considered going onto the flight circle and trying to put in a flight and getting a complete flight in and a good speed. Then, it’s considered an official flight.
If you don’t get an official score, then you have used one of your four attempts. This system is used for all classes of Speed. Sometimes, if the contestant gets a fast enough speed, he may only take that flight as his official flight and wait and see if anyone goes faster. Then, he can go up and try to beat that time and go faster. So, go fast the first time and let everyone else try and beat your speed.
The four events today were B Speed, C Speed, D Speed and Fast Jet Speed. B Speed uses a .29-size motor, C Speed uses a .40 motor, and D Speed can use up to a .65-size motor. Fast Jet can use a modified pulse jet motor. Mostly, they have a different intake and are much more powerful compared to the stock pulse jet engines. Each of these events were timed for six laps, and all flew on 70-foot-long lines.
B Speed had five entries. Bill Hughes used his just three of his attempts to get the fastest speed of 178.65 mph. Glen VanSant came in second place with a speed of 175.7 mph. Patrick Hemple came in third at 127.8 mph.
C Speed had only two entries. Bill Hughes came in first place with a speed of 172.91 mph. Glen VanSant came in second place with a speed of 152.02 mph.
D Speed had four contestants. This event had really fast speeds. Bill Hughes won first place at a speed of 185.34 mph! Chris Montagino came in second with a speed of 176.86 mph. James VanSant went 175.26 mph for third place, going faster than his dad. Glen VanSant went 164.66 mph for fourth place. All these speeds are really FAST!
Four people entered Fast Jet Speed. Jeff Gitchel captured first place with a speed of 185.33 mph. Second place went to Patrick Hemple at a speed of 180.87 mph. Mike Couts used a plane he has had since the year 2000 and went 153.45 mph to get third place.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, July 7), we will be flying A Speed, FAI Speed and Fox 35 Stunt Speed. So come by Site 6 to watch and enjoy some speed.
